In the fitting structure between a connector and an inlet of an electrical connector unit, there may be arranged a locking portion configured to prevent the connector from slipping out of the inlet when the connector reaches a predetermined fitting position.
Further, in this structure, there is also needed a releasing portion, e.g., a release button, which is configured to release locking of the locking portion when the connector is disengaged from the inlet.
In this structure, the locking may not be released by the releasing portion due to breakage of the releasing portion, and to a foreign matter that intrudes into the connector to be caught in the locking portion.
Accordingly, in this structure, there is also needed the structure (hereinafter referred to as urgent disengaging structure) for disengaging the connector from the inlet after forcibly releasing the locking without using the releasing portion.
As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 5659444 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1), as the urgent disengaging structure, there is proposed the structure for releasing locking in such a manner that a shaft configured to retain a locking lever to a cover of the connector is pulled out of the cover from an outside.
This structure is specifically described with reference to FIG. 24.
As illustrated in FIG. 24, a vehicle charging connector 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a first rocking arm 10 including a disengagement preventing hook 11 configured to lock a fitting state between the connector and a vehicle-side inlet, and a slide switch 4 configured to release locking of the first rocking arm 10. Further, the first rocking arm 10 is rotatably retained by a shaft 13 to a cover of the vehicle charging connector 100. In addition, the shaft 13 can be mounted and dismounted from the outside.
In this structure, when the slide switch 4 cannot release locking of the disengagement preventing hook 11, the shaft 13 is pulled out of the cover, thereby releasing retention of the first rocking arm 10 to the cover. Thus, the disengagement preventing hook 11 is disengaged from the vehicle-side inlet so that the locking is forcibly released.